Sustainability: business, life, environment

Driven by a wide variety of business sustainability goals and objectives, there is sometimes a tendency to become overly focused of the attributes of the supply as the defining characteristic.  However, leading companies around the world are searching for the broader process value in ‘sustainable’ or ‘green’ supply chain management. 

With an emphasis on environmental awareness, social responsibility, and business sustainability actions, procurement organizations are evaluating inbound supply and their organizational roll in the overall supply chain from an expanded perspective.   Our daily sustainability consulting experiences reveal business sustainability action is resulting in strategic sourcing and procurement guidelines to align suppliers with defined business sustainability strategies.

Leaders, like Wal-Mart, are rolling out rating systems which assess supply on the basis of environmental and social criteria.  Beyond simple product characteristics, companies like Wal-Mart are reevaluating the definition of a sustainable supply chain from and overall process perspective.  These business sustainability leaders are asking their current supply chain models a few process questions:

•    How could alternative supply reduce overall energy costs?

•    How could modified transportation and distribution process reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

•    How could alternative supply reduce waste and enhance quality?

•    How could alternatives ensure responsibly sourced  raw materials?

•    How could alternatives ensure responsible & ethical production of supply?

The recent emergence of sustainable supply chain management has provided companies with the opportunity to review the processes that go into the delivery of their supply from a new perspective.  Our sustainability consulting provides information and small business resources to clients of all sizes seeking to make incremental steps towards a sustainable supply chain.